Wildcat

I struggled to understand Maya Hawke who croaks and whispers in a thickly-accented incoherent drawl. Subtitles reveal a clunky yet occassionally interesting script full of overwrought, flowery dialogue that often shines. Unfortunately, it's a story without much impact, especially if you're unfamiliar with O'Connor (as I am).

The plot is fragmented into non-linear episodes that highlight her various struggles; professional, personal, historical and theological. But they never really get beyond surface level.

Ethan Hawke should be commended for his blend of dialogue, music and imagery to create a hypnotic feel. It's very heavy on post-production filters, sadly, which smothers the otherwise decent photography.

I found it slow, over-cooked and bland. But it's a 'feel' movie and if you like the vibes of the trailer, it's basically two hours of that.

The film is a melding of Flannery O'Connor's life with several of her stories as she labors to write after a diagnosis of Lupus. She's living on her mother's Georgia farm but corresponding with her editor in New York. While she writes her novel "Wise Blood" she also churns out a bunch of short stories.

Maya Hawke is excellent as O'Connor and several of the characters in the stories as is Laura Linney as the mother and several characters in the stories. The film is directed and co-written by Ethan Hawke.

When I was still teaching American Short Stories classes I would always xerox off a few O'Connor stories and Robert McAlmon's "The Jack Rabbit Drive" to add to the book we had to use. The film recreates a few scenes from O'Connor's story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," and I remembered from reading biographical material that she had sold this story and a TV adaptation was made and how she howled in disbelief that they miscast Gene Kelly as the main character.

Well, good old Youtube sports this 26-minute horror with Gene Kelly as Tom Triplett (it's Shiftlet in the story) the one-armed handyman who comes upon the dirt farm of Mrs Crater and her daughter Lucy Nell. Agnes Moorehead and Janice Rule play the women. The ending is totally changed (and ruined) by the Schlitz Playhouse adaptation. The role is totally out of Kelly's depth (Kelly was never a very good actor). O'Connor never sold another story to be filmed in her lifetime.

Anyway, Wildcat is well worth tracking down even if you're not familiar with O'Connor's singular world view.

I was able to attend the premiere in Savannah, and this is how Maya Hawke introduced us to the film: it's their poem about Flannery. It's not meant to be an exact representation. That said, it's not for everyone (thankfully) and I left with my heart full and my brain spinning.

It's a fever dream. It's a woman coming to grips with her immense talent and ambition housed in a body that is failing her. It's a search for grace and a struggle for goodness.

I thought it was beautifully made, and the acting very well done. As a Georgia native I found the accents just fine and, at the very least, not distracting. (I can't say I was thinking about accents; far too many other things to focus on!) The title comes from one of her short stories, "Wildcat," and I think fits her very well: feisty, strong-willed, sharp teeth (or tongue, as you will).

A weird movie based on the work ok some author only intelectual people know, there is a lot of cameos by friends of the director Ethan Hawke, his daughter is good in this, she is clearly not a nepobaby like others, she knows how to act, the rest of cameos are fine, especially Neeson and Zach, overall it's just a poetic and interesting movie, its hard to follow, but its kinda worth watching it some raining sunday after exercising. Its the type of movie to watch while you gaming

There is a couple of boring religious stuff, other than that it's a good time in my books. Another decent Hawke directional movie.

WILDCAT, based on the stories of Flannery O'Connor, was even worse than my worst fears! Flannery O'Connor is one of my favorite writers, so I was thrilled that somebody was making a movie of her short stories. Previous attempts to film her work have yielded mixed results. (The best was WISE BLOOD with Brad Dourif and Harry Dean Stanton; most notorious was the TV version of "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" with Gene Kelly and a tacked-on happy ending.) This one takes on O'Connor's life after she has been diagnosed with Lupus (the disease that killed her father) and is frantically trying to write her very best before her death at age 39. Interspersed with the biographical episodes are vignettes from some of her short stories, which make no sense when removed from their contexts. It's an incomprehensible mess (starting with the title-there are no wildcats in O'Connor's work and she, a fanatical Catholic girl, could hardly be called one), with the same actors portraying real people Flannery knew and the characters she based on them. If you are not familiar with O'Connor and her work, I doubt this will make any sense at all. Top it off with the cringeworthy attempts at Southern accents by most of the actors. I enjoyed a few moments of it, but that's primarily because I had a frame of reference. Flannery's fans tend to be very possessive of her. I am no exception. I thought this was heartbreakingly bad.